Her fingertips were raw and swollen by the time she crested the Mountain, gaining the highest reach - a cliff, all of sun-baked stone, which looks out over the Lands.

The princess knelt on the heated stone, and lifted her gave to the sun which blazed incandescent in the brilliant sky. And she spoke.

And she asked the sun “Why?”

But the sun gave no answer.

And she called out to the sun “Why?”and the pain of the world was caught in her cry.

But the sun gave no answer.

And she screamed to the sun “WHY?!” In a voice heard by all things.

But the sun gave no answer.

And she fell to the group and wept bitter tears.

OOOO

And as she wept, the shard of ice which encased her heart shivered and dissolved, cast out by the tears which rose from the depths of her soul. And the tears washed her wound clean, and they scourged her hurts of all foulness, until they faded to pale scars.

The princess wept beyond counting or time. She wept for an eternity, and beyond-

For her tears had been locked within for a very long time.

OOOO

But even grief must come to an end, and all too soon her eyes dried.

Slowly, she raised a salt-traced face to the sky, and her eyes were shut fast.

She whispered to the sun, “Why?”

And the sun watched all, and spoke.

OOOO

No person knows what the sun said to the eldest princess of the land that loves the sun. No being, be they man, woman, or child, knows what passed between the two. And the sun answers not to their inquiries, and the princess is silent to their pleas.

But no one has asked the question of those Between.

OOOO

What they do know is that the princess forged a shield and sword on the top of the Mountain that lies in the center of all things. And the metal is unknown. But this secret, at least, the princess is willing to share.

And she speaks in riddles and impossibilities. For she claims that she created a sword and a shield of sunlight, and the sound of light on the sea-waves. Of the scent of the sunset, and the song of the stars. Of the laughter of children, and the smiles of tired mothers. Of sunrise and moonset and winds of the West.

Still, who are we, to judge that which is impossible?

OOOO

But there is one secret of the construction of her armaments which she has not shared with any other being. And that is that her sword and shield contain within them streaks of steel and ice, offset by silver and flame. But why she hides that knowledge, none can say.

OOOO

So the princess returned to her homeland, healed and armed anew with a shield and sword she could truly call her own. Her parents rejoiced, and held her close - and if they notices the scars which graced her form, or the redness of her eyes, they spoke not of it.

But she was no longer merely a child. Her wanderings had taken that toll from her - and perhaps that was the true price which the Wizard of the Tower had warned her of.

For the land which loves the sun, although dear to her, was no longer her home. And so she prepared to set out once more, into the world, in search of a land to call her own.

OOOO

And none know of the adventures she faced on her last, final quest.

Some say she founded the land of the Moon, where silver and steel forever entwine. But those that know her scoff that notion, for she ever loved the sunlight.

And some think that she wandered into the Desert, and formed a tribe of her own, which she leads into battle as chieftain and conqueror. And some say this is truth, for her mother was a Wild Woman.

Some hold that she still wanders, in search of her heartland.

But what the truth, none can say.